MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. With the approval and encouragement of its Western sponsors, the Kiev regime is resorting to nuclear blackmail, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said.
The diplomat said that Ukrainian militants, who invaded Russia’s borderline Kursk Region two years ago "with NATO equipment and Western-made weapons" planned to seize the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and plant bombs there.
"Every day, to the applause and sometimes to the accompaniment of their NATO sponsors, they are using the issue of nuclear weapons or atomic energy as a form of blackmail," Zakharova said.
During a meeting on the situation in borderline areas, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on August 22, 2024 that Ukrainian troops had attempted to deliver strikes on the Kursk nuclear power plant. Later, Ukrainian forces repeatedly tried to attack the Russian nuclear facility in the town of Kurchatov. On November 5, 2024, the Russian Defense Ministry published slides of a report by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on the plan to capture the Kursk NPP.